CHICAGO (March 14) – What do New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, Seattle and Miami gas price averages all have in common?

In each respective market today’s average is lower than its price point from one year ago, with Chicago an impressive 29 cents lower than a year ago.

Overall, the national average had fallen for 12 straight days before rising on February 11. The national average now stands at $3.67 per gallon, its lowest level since its peak, to date, at $3.79 per gallon on February 27.

What’s going on?

“Right now motorists may be pleasantly surprised with the direction gasoline prices are taking and it’s due largely to timing; the more costly summer-blend gasoline is not yet available in most markets and there’s also a bit of a ‘fire sale’ – consumers get some relief from refinery efforts to unload their remaining ‘winter-blend’ gasoline inventory,” said Patrick DeHaan, senior petroleum analyst, GasBuddy. “But, these are not the days of wine and roses…” .

“We still believe that another upward trend in retail gasoline prices is a strong possibility, coinciding with the full implementation of summer blend gasoline and it will arrive in April,” he added.

“Interestingly enough, while three states (HI, CA, AK) still see prices over $4 per gallon, 45 states now have lower prices today than a year ago, and Illinois has the greatest year-over-year discount with its average price down by 22 cents per gallon,” said Gregg Laskoski, another senior petroleum analyst with GasBuddy. “Colorado is one of just five states seeing a higher average today than last year.”

About GasBuddy

GasBuddy operates over 250 similar websites that track gasoline prices at over 140,000 gasoline stations in the United States and Canada. In addition, GasBuddy offers a free smart phone app which has been downloaded over 25 million times to help motorists find the lowest gasoline prices in their area.